Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Douglas Malloch

Coming Events

April
April is National Garlic Month, National Grilled Cheese Month, and National Soft Pretzel Month
April 17 Mom dental appointment 9 am
April 18 No scouts or cub scouts Dad and Mom to temple.
April 19 National Garlic Day
Nano shopping, freezer clean, lab and lab and doctor day
Dad and Mom to temple
April 20 Friends to dinner
April 21 Happy 61st Birthday, Dad!!
Mom and Dad stake conference meeting at 7 pm
April 22 Happy Anniversary, Cameo and Ethan!!!
Mom and Dad stake conference. Mom has to be there at 8:30 for choir practice. Dad has Job Finding Class at 4 pm
April 24 Happy 38th Anniversary, Dad and Mom 9:28 am
Mom Pack Meeting 7 pm
April 25 National Zucchini Bread Day
Dad scouts 7 pm
April 26 or 27 Nano to doctor, store
April 28 National Strawberry Pie Day
Dad and Mom to ward service project 8 - 10 am
April 30 National Raisin Day
May
May is National Egg Month, National Asparagus Month, National Hamburger Month, and (my favorite) National Salad Month.
May 2 Mom Cub Scouts 6-7 pm
Dad scouts 7-8:30 pm
May 3 Nano shopping
May 4 National Orange Juice Day
National Star Wars Day - May the Fourth Be With You
Mom's baptism anniversary 5-4-74
May 5 Cinco de Mayo
May 6 Mom choir 3 pm
May 8 Coconut Cream Pie Day
May 9 National Butterscotch Brownie Day
Mom scouts 6-7pm
Dad scouts 7-8:30 pm
May 10 National Shrimp Day
Nano shopping
May 13 National Apple Pie Day
May 15 National Chocolate Chip Day (2nd favorite)
Dad dentist 2:30 pm
May 16 Mom scouts 6-7 pm
Dad scouts 7-8:30 pm
May 17 Happy Anniversary, Nathan and Jessica!!
Nano shopping
May 22 No pack Meetin
May 23 National Taffy Day
No den Meeting
May 24 National Asparagus Day
May 25 Happy Anniversary, Mike and Allison!
May 26 National Blueberry Pie Day
May 28 Memorial Day
May 30 Mom No Scouts
May 31 Happy Birthday, Mike!!
June
June is National Aquarium Month, National Dairy Month, National Papaya Month, and National Accordian Awareness Month
June 1-2 Thunderbird Hills Ward Cub Camp (mom not attending(
June 2 Fast Sunday
National Rocky Road Ice Cream Day
June 3 National Egg day
June 6 Mom cub scouts 6-7 pm
Dad scouts 7-8:30 pm
June 7 Nano shopping
June 8 Happy 15th Birthday, Adam!!!
June 9 Happy Birthday, Grandma!
June 10 National Germann Chocolated Cake Dau
June 12 National Peanut Butter Cookie Day

Pizza Party Planner

With the success of a recent party, it was determined that standards should be set regarding having parties here. We want to welcome those who want to use our house for a party, so we determined the following:

1. Event date needs to be reserved at least one month prior. Saturday is the best day. Sunday, we have late church so it is not possible.

2. Saturday - at least 7 days ahead - male head of household needs to come out alone and spend time with Dad cleaning up the yard and porch, putting tools away, mowing the yard, blowing leaves, etc. Dad will work outside while I work inside to get the house super cleaned. I will also make pizza dough for you...no charge...so I need to know the number of pizzas you plan. (Ethan and Cam made 11 pizzas for Kaylee's 2nd birthday)

3. Morning of event - male head of household needs to come over alone and do some final clean up of yard, bringing any chairs and tables, though we do have over 20 chairs and three small tables available for your use.

4. Bring all pizza toppings chopped and ready. Bring any food in addition. We have three drink dispensers for kool aid or lemonade and two small refrigerators you can use.

5. Clean up - we will help but please stay until all is put away, loaded up and cleaned up.

My Inspiration...For Now

"…Your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there."

-Thomas S. Monson

“The sweetest experience I know in life is to feel a prompting and act upon it, and later find out that it was the fulfillment of someone’s prayer or someone’s need. And I always want the Lord to know that if He needs an errand run, Tom Monson will run that errand for Him.”

~Thomas S. Monson.

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

-Thomas S. Monson

“Noah waited 120 years before the predicted rains arrived. Abraham waited 25 years for a promised son. Joseph waited 14 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Job waited perhaps a lifetime, 60 to 70 years, for God’s justice.”

“God prepares leaders in a slow cooker, not in a microwave oven. More important than the awaited goal is the work God does in us while we wait. Waiting deepens and matures us, levels our perspective, and broadens our understanding. Tests of time determine whether we can endure seasons of seemingly unfruitful preparations, and indicate whether we can recognize and seize the opportunities that come our way.”

John C. Maxwell

"When you marry someone, you are entrusted with the heart of another human being. Whatever else your life's great mission will entail, loving and defending this heart next to you is part of your great quest."

John Eldredge

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Leonardo da Vinci

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."~Aristotle

" Life is a series of problems. Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort, God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.Painful moments, TRUST GOD.Every moment, THANK GOD.

Pastor Rick Warren"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Family and Friends

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Spiritual
My visiting teachers came on Monday and I went and completed visiting our last sister with my companion on Tuesday. I had hoped to attend the 4:30 pm Tuesday temple session, but with checking in for my flight, printing boarding pass, taking care of chickens, cooking and everything else, there was no time...plus I had pack meeting that night, which included a skit our boys needed to perform and handing out the new calendars.Dad attended the temple Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights.

Church was wonderful on Sunday, both for Dad in Phoenix and me in Georgia. I attended with Cameo, Kaylee and Wade. They are part of a ward full of wonderful people!!!

After church, we enjoyed time together,

Ethan and Cameo's home teachers came, and then we ate a wonderful Chinese dinner Ethan prepared and Ethan had a few moments away from work and with his family.

I didn't remember to write down where I was in my scripture reading but I was somewhere in the latter half of second Nephi in the Book of Mormon.

Before I left, I had indexed a total of 3429 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family
No word from this family this week. I know they are very, very busy!

The Ethan Rice Family
Kaylee and I had a great conversation Monday evening via FaceTime. Hide and seek, catch, and just good conversation...until Mommy made her the perfect honey sandwich, which she gave me a bite of and she was off.

Ethan wanted his Christmas gift to be that I came out to see them, so I used his Christmas money to buy the ticket. By the time I FINALLY arrived, it ended up being a blessing, since Ethan had to work many many hours during the week (22 one day) and I was there to help out while he was away.

My flight was delayed before I left. It was delayed when I got to the airport. (It turned out to be an interesting trip there. Grandma was to take me since Dad was gone, but with the first delay, Dad was able to meet us along the way, and I ended up switching cars along the way at Camelback road in a parking lot. Dad took me and dropped me off in his rental car from his business trip.) At the second delay, the offered us a ten dollar lunch, so I took the paper and went to the nearest restaurant (not many choices in that set of gates at the airport)...Got a $9.96 chicken caesar salad...

Literally the size of my hand...but it sufficed. My plane finally left here at 7:45 pm and arrived there way after midnight, which meant that the most busy airport in the United States shut down their travel subway at midnight. I ended up climbing off the plane on rickety metal stairs down to the tarmack and then off to a bus, which took us to the terminal. Ethan was in the terminal and I was coming in from outside! He looked great, we hugged and headed off to his house, quickly, since he was to get only two hours of sleep before he had to go to work. I quickly saw Wade, their lovely home and went in the guest room upstairs to bed.

It was so cold the whole time I was there. We mainly stayed indoors, except to take Kaylee to and from preschool. I kept Wade walked and happy, fed him milk mommy pumped while working, played game after game after game of hide and seek, and had a grand time!

The pics were pretty good, since I discovered when I arrived that something had broken on my good camera and the lens would not stay on. I used my phone and Cameo took lots with hers.

On Saturday, Kaylee wanted me to help with her Easy Bake Oven, which I was all too happy to do since I always wanted on but never had one.

Went to McDonalds for Kaylee to get a chance to play

Ethan was able to come home from work and enjoyed playing with Wade

Kaylee, Cameo and I took all the decorations down and put them in their boxes.

New home are a crazy expense aren't they? New refrigerator and dryer (hookups were wrong), new blinds (builder provides front windows, owners provide for back)- 2 front windows (8 windows side and rear), towel racks, ceiling fans, furniture that fits including a new dining table, sofa, chairs, and guest bedroom bed and dresser, plus creating a home office for Cameo, and then new furniture for Wade's room. Their house is awesome and the basement will someday be amazing. And the closets!!! Awesome!!!

Thank you for the gift, Ethan, and the Mickey Mouse accessories for my village!!! And thank you for the hotel like setting to stay with you!!

The Doran Rice Family
Dad saw Doran on his way down to Tucson.
Doran's injury is doing better...he ended up calling the doctor last
weekend and it was figured that Doran, who was feeling very weak, had
lost nearly a pint of blood with the injury, which his body will have to
absorb.Still, he brought the kids over on Saturday to play while he
helped Dad align the jeep. Dad made Chinese to show his appreciation for
the help.

Morgan
Busy work week but all is well.

Kayty
Kayty
had a good Monday off work, sleeping late and watching shows on
NetFlix.She ended up going low twice in a row while I was in Atlanta and
Dad contacted me via FaceTime to talk to her and get her to take some
sugar. It was a HARD job for Dad and he was a Super Hero!!

The Nathan Rice Family
Nathan
had a busy school week, but is loving it. Annalee was sick, so Nathan
and Jessica switched shifts with each other on Sunday.

Work
Monday,
Dad was in meetings from early morning till 1:30 pm and then I took him
at 2 pm to go pick up his rental car and he headed off to Tucson for
two days of Kaizen event. He arrived after a rainy trip, ate some
wonderful Chinese food, found a 99 cent store and settled into his
hotel, which ended up being quite a nice place! It was a resort and he
had his own casita with two beds, a sofa, a back patio, and a bathroom
larger than ours at home! They brought him a fruit basket and water
bottles as soon as he checked in. It was a drive everywhere, so he
didn't get to use his breakfast voucher at the restaurant, since he was
on the phone with another coworker during is prep time. He would have
finished his responsibilities on Tuesday had the leader of the event
done his job and another participant not taken things off track the
entire day. Dad did get an amazing meal on Tuesday, including a seafood
salad that was to die for.

Dad's Garden
A rainy Monday was glorious for the garden! Cold Tuesday and Wednesday nights were a concern though, and finally some plants succomed to frost on Wednesday, as the huge wind blew off Dad's cover. Still, he picked a huge Chinese cabbage that he was able to share with two other people and still keep some for himself. Peas are plentiful and the garden still is pretty doggone happy.

Other highlights
Dad was invited to dinner on Wednesday by our next door neighbor and enjoyed meeting another neighbor down the street.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Spiritual
Dad had a late work dinner, and Kayty was at work, so on Tuesday, I headed to the temple at 4 pm for the first afternoon Endowment session of the day. It was a great session and so nice to have President Driscoll greet you, hold the door for you, and shake your hand. I love our temple presidency! Dad attended his regular Wednesday evening session.

Cub scouts went very well. Much easier with two leaders....and two boys. We did have to stay late...one boy left with his parents and we didn't know he had gone so we waited till mom called us back.

I sent my visiting teaching letter to one sister, and wrote to my dear inmate sister. I also went visiting teaching on Friday.

Saturday, Dad and I volunteered to help clean the church in the morning (though I arrived late due to Kayty's glucose low) and dad did lots of mopping. There wasn't much left by the time I arrived. Later that evening, we went to church to watch a Religious Freedom broadcast from the Tempe Arizona Institute of Religion. Dallin H. Oakes spoke as well as the chief advisor/counsel to the First Presidency. I won't say it was exciting, but Dallin Oakes words were a wonderful conclusion.

I am in 2 Nephi 7 in the Book of Mormon.

I have indexed 2997 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family
Grace and Adam auditioned and both were given roles in their upcoming school performance of "Cinderella". Adam is the King and Grace has a speaking part as a townsperson. Very exciting.

The Ethan Rice Family
Ethan now works 10:30 am to 8:30 pm and Cameo started back full time (I made a mistake last week) and works a couple of hours while Ethan is gone and then 9 to midnight. She sent me a little video of Wade enjoying the ceiling fan and working near Mommy.Kaylee sent me a few texts, including some "interesting" voice directed ones. Too funny!!

The Doran Rice Family
Doran and Amber, Kelsie and Kooper were busy with work, school, puppies and the like.

Morgan
Just your typical work week for these two.

Kayty
Kayty didn't attend Family Home Evening with the Singles Ward. They were playing Ultimate Frisbee and she has yet to be near a frisbee without coming away with a bloody nose or a bump on the head.Long work week, and she is not sure she will get a permanent position, so Barb is helping her search for other positions within the company.

Total saves this week: 1 major with seizure and 1 minor needing glucose tablets

The Nathan Rice Family
Nathan had the day off on Monday but did lots of work around the house and headed to school for homework. On Tuesday, I received a cute little ultrasound photo. Baby is doing well. Nathan spent many hours at school doing homework. We talked on the phone a few times including Sunday night. Annalee and Jessica were napping....church hits right at Anne's naptime.

Work
Dad worked and worked on Monday from very early till late in the day and still had more to do. He had a Kaizen Event near the airport, as well as a day to meet his newest supervisor, so he was up early and fighting traffic Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.He stayed late for a dinner get together on Tuesday and had some really great pizza. Thursday was mainly just appetizers so he had a few and came home. Friday was a long and busy day.

I did my normal daily duties of cooking, cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, laundry, mopping, and bill paying, and did a lot of hauling of branches and debris to the bulk trash pile out in front.

Dad's Garden
Our weather has been perfect for the garden this year. Some rain, no freezing temps...We have lots of citrus, downed lots of cabbage, and have a great supply of snow peas and carrots coming on. I spent lots of time picking snow peas too. Dad pruned down the grape vines and I hauled off.

Other highlights
One house on my Thursday run still had a Christmas tree up and illuminated. It was beautiful!!

I watched the Inauguration of President Donald J. Trump on Friday morning. I love all the tradition that surrounds the day, and I loved hearing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing between the Vice President and the President taking the oath of office. While I did not vote for either the Republican and certainly not the Democrat candidates, I pray for the success of our nation and for good people to increase and thrive. There is so much wicked in the world, and while it is plastered all over media, it is the majority that quietly obeys laws, goes to work and school, pays their taxes, attends church and lives good, honorable lives.

Three fireplace fires this week! More than we have had in years!! So nice!

Not so highlights
While lying on the living room sofa I noticed a termite tube going up to the ceiling in front of the fireplace. Dad will check the roof after he returns from Tucson next week and we will call Eric Toscano and see what to do. Termites...no fun!

Monday, January 16, 2017

My co leader for scouts called me one hour before scout meeting, saying she had a glucose problem earlier and wouldn't be able to be at scouts. She was the one in charge and teaching, so Dad helped me scramble, print up, and prepare for the evening. I survived...but it surely wasn't all I had hoped.

We had a wonderful Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. One sister told her story of how she was blessed to find the Gospel. She was born and raised in Italy, and was sent to Catholic boarding school when she was only 5 years of age. She was there with a couple of her seven siblings, but her parents both had to work, had no child care, and could not afford to bring the children home so the parents would visit them once a year. Can you imagine? Yet she has a lovely conversion stories, with questions she had, prayers, a dream that guided her, and missionary service in her beloved Italy before marrying and coming to the United States. Jordan Sheppard, our 18 year old ward organist, played a masterful piano solo, and then high councilman Marcus Allen spoke on remembering and the Sacrament. I ended up sitting with our CTR 4 class in Primary during Sunday School time, and Relief Society was great.

Dad's home teaching companion ended up not being able to go with him, and dad's families could not reschedule again, so I went home teaching with him (thus the blog not being published). He did complete all his home teaching for the month.

I got my letter written to my inmate sister, Nena, and also wrote a letter to our visiting teaching letter only sister, Tracey.

I indexed 1743 records so far this year. Indexing is MUCH more challenging now. I could finish 100 records in less than an hour last year. Now, the same amount will take over an hour...nearly two hours. I even took a Portugese Indexing Class for non speakers, but it was not helpful at all. Their example was a perfectly typed record, and even they admitted that type of record was rare. I have a difficult enough time going through paragraphs of handwritten English and locating the information I am to record.

In the scriptures, I am in 1 Nephi 15.

Family

The Wilkins Family
Josh started the week sick with croup. Poor guy. His cat best buddy snuggled him better.
The kids went on a neighborhood treasure hunt when they were off school...

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sam on Friday. Here is what Allison shared about Sam:
"This sweet guy turned 3 today and my heart can NOT even take it. Sam is
SO much fun! He adores his siblings and loves wrestling with the boys as
much as he loves getting his nails painted by Grace. He is the best
snuggler and I love that he demands a "duddle" (cuddle) every morning.
He is the happiest kid and loves fist bumping everyone he meets. We are
SO glad he came to our family! Happy 3rd Birthday, Sam!!!
We are so thankful Heavenly Father blessed our family with you, Sam!! We love you!!

The Ethan Rice Family
Wade turned six weeks old on Thursday...

Cameo returned to work from maternity leave. Ethan was put on a new daytime shift at work, which will be great for the family....after the adjust from the evening shift they had just adjusted to.

I received these on Saturday night...taken on January 3rd

The Doran Rice Family
Busy work week and then Kooper turned 3 on Friday! Happy Birthday, Kooper!!
We went over to their house on Saturday night to celebrate.

The trick candles worked perfectly!

Doran had a pretty nasty bike crash on Saturday morning...mountain biking...round a corner...someone made a jump bigger...He was sore still on Sunday. Amber's Dog Rescue Group held a Dinner Gala on Sunday night and raised quite a bit of money to fund their efforts. Congratulations!

Morgan
Morgan was a superhero for us on Saturday, came right after he got off work, bacon in hand, Christy crashed on the couch since she hadn't slept, and after pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and fresh juice, he got into the attic and filled it up with insulation...25 bags fed into the machine by dad and blown in by Morgan...over the living room, over our bedroom, and everywhere else that seemed thin. Thank you Morgan!!

We also have a "Save The Date" for Morgan and Christy...March 2nd! It's also Christy's birthday.

Kayty
Kayty had a good week. Monday and Tuesday were her days off and she and Lilly watched tv and worked on her puzzle. She got a couple hours of overtime on Saturday morning. She attended family home evening at church on Monday, church on Sunday, and joined a dinner group on Sunday evening.

Total saves this week: 1 major

The Nathan Rice Family
The weather was crazy this week in Idaho: "warm" which is above freezing, and below zero. School is going well for Nathan and he is enjoying it, though something happened to a communication cable making it impossible to call or email them. School was the only place for Nathan to do homework and he spent late nights there all week. He did get notice that he has been hired by a Phoenix company "Chromalloy" for an internship from the end of April to the beginning of September. He is also planning out his future time in school. Classes and certifications will include Green Belt, and he is in track to graduate in December of 2018. (I might have complained that I will have to travel to Idaho in December...brrrrrr).

Happy Birthday on Saturday, Nathan!! They celebrated early before school started with dinner out and had a yummy breakfast out on his birthday.

We talked on Sunday too. He had many hours working as the Ward Clerk on Sunday, and Annalee had a fever of 102 degrees on Sunday evening, but was chattering away and in good spirits.

Work
Dad's week started with trip planning. It took hours to get a trip to Mexico in early February scheduled with airplanes, etc. He did get to meet his new supervisor online and he seems to like him. There is tons of work to do, with being so short handed now, and he often calls or emails someone for a need, only to discover they have been fired or quit.His new supervisor is totally overloaded as well so he hasn't noticed that dad is having to do all the work for the two fired co-workers in addition to his own work.They should rectify this when new boss travels to Phoenix next week.

My work week started with taking down the village. Over 12 hours on Monday, and nearly six hours on Tuesday, but it's all down and packed up safe. I love it when it's up...

And I love it when it's put away.

My normal photos, etc are back on the shelves and my hut is neat and clean, all packed away, and has cricket/spider traps all over to catch any styrofoam eating creatures.

Dad's Garden
The garden is doing very well. Our mild Winter and abundant rain is making the garden happy!! He harvested cilantro (turned it into salsa with our Market on the Move tomatoes), turnips, lettuce, chard, carrots, snow peas, peppers, spinach and basil. He pruned the pepper plants and the basil down hoping that would promote better growth later on. We also are getting wonderful oranges, tangerines and grapefruit for him to eat.

Year of the House
Insulation project complete!!! I didn't get pics taken, but Morgan and Dad did great!!

Other highlights
I am still enjoying a few houses of Christmas lights as I run.

Not so highlights
I needed more Grammy stocking fabric, so I headed to JoAnn's to get some denim. I finally got the right color and then turned around to get a number for the fabric to get cut. "98"...ok fine....till I heard they were on "70"!. Someone said, 'well that's what it's like on coupon day."

Coupon day? Oh no!!!!!!!

I ended up being in the cutting line for nearly an hour, and then the paying line only had two or three cashiers and was over 30 minutes waiting there! Over 1 and a half hours to buy one piece...two yards...of denim!

Never again!! I told Dad that if I sewed on a regular basis, I would have come home and broken my sewing machine into bits! (Since I only craft and mend, it can stay.) Never going to that awful place again!

A Little About Us...

Our story began at Phoenix College Institute of Religion. I was in a scripture class, when a voice behind me answered a question Brother Johnson had asked. There was something about that voice. Now, don't be foolish enough to think that there were bells ringing and birds singing. It took another year, each of us being engaged to someone else, to see that we were meant for each other.

We married in the Mesa Arizona Temple in April of 1980. Our family grew and grew. We are blessed to have six wonderful children: Allison, married to Mike, and Adam, Grace, Joshua, and Sam, happy in Las Vegas; Ethan, married to Cameo, and Kaylee and Wade, happy in Georgia; Doran, married to Amber, with Kelsie and Kooper, and Charles, who returned to Heavenly Father; Morgan and his sweetheart Christy; Kayty; and Nathan married to Jessica and Annalee and Elisabeth, learning in college in Idaho. . We are a forever family. There will be NO empty chairs at our table!

Our blog will, hopefully, give you a taste of what is the Rice family. Join in the fun, excitement, challenge, and joy.